MASALA ROOIBOS CHAI LATTE & TEA CONCENTRATE

January 12th, 2019

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Hey happy weekend! Hope you’ve been making the best of the fresh opportunity of the new year. Like I mentioned in my last post, we’ve been going BIG on the KonMari method in our house, and that will be continuing over the next couple days. It already feels so great! It’s a lighter kind of energy that I want to keep going. Other than shipping out a bunch of stuff we don’t need, we’re going to visit some friends for a nice brunch get together, try to stay warm in this DEEP cold, aaaand I might sneak a tiny bit of work in too. Very low key!

I’m having a huge masala chai moment right now, so I’ll be sipping this all weekend too. I can’t get enough of it for some reason! Every time I go out, I make these little detours to get one in my fave reusable cup, sometimes with a lil’ espresso shot added if I’m in the right kinda mood. This was proving to be an indulgent and somewhat spend-y habit, and since I know how to brew tea and I have a milk frother, this drink was more than within my grasp. I made this version caffeine free with naturally sweet rooibos tea. It is such a delight with all of the cracked and toasted spices and a frothy little cap of warm plant-based milk (I like cashew or almond for this). I sweeten mine with a bit of maple syrup to make it extra nice. Anyway, hope you enjoy the masala rooibos chai and a few links here too! Catch ya next week.

Another perspective on Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up phenomenon: “Organizing is a potent fantasy because it offers the possibility of control.” Also, another side effect of the massive sparking of joy is an overabundance of used clothing at thrift stores. I can only imagine how much of people’s purged stuff ends up in landfills too :(

A24, the film studio behind Ladybird,Moonlight and others, has a great podcast! This conversation between Jonah Hill and Michael Cera is wonderful.

A symptom of burnout that you haven’t thought about yet: errand paralysis. I have personally dealt with this in certain phases of my life. Finish developing and photographing a cookbook? Sure! Take on 4 sponsored campaigns in 1 month in addition to other regular content? Got it. Write a 10 minute response to a mundane personal email that’s been festering away in my inbox for months? Impossible. This article argues that millennials aren’t just experiencing this in phases though. Burnout is “the millennial condition. It’s our base temperature. It’s our background music. It’s the way things are. It’s our lives.”

Ayurveda has thoroughly made its way into the mainstream health and wellness world at this point and I’m loving it. This little guide to herbs, roots, and spices commonly found in the ancient health science is a nice introductory primer.

How time savers in the kitchen like the Instant Pot keep women in an endless cycle of efficiency that benefits everyone but themselves. “Even if American moms have achieved maximum productivity, the forces that require them to life-hack ever more clever ways to spend less time caring for themselves are still at work.” I still love my IP, but damn there are some truth bombs here.

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MASALA ROOIBOS CHAI LATTE & CONCENTRATEPrint the recipe here!Serves: Makes 1 quart of concentrate, about 4-5 lattesNotes: This is just how I like my spices in masala chai. Feel free to play around and make it your own.-I use an electric milk frother to heat my plant-based milk that goes with this, but you can just as easily heat it on the stove in a saucepan.FOR THE CONCENTRATE:12 allspice berries10 black peppercorns8 whole cloves6 green cardamom pods4 cinnamon sticks4 cups filtered water3 tablespoons rooibos tea1-inch piece of ginger, sliced1 teaspoon vanilla extractpinch of sea salt3 tablespoons maple syrup, or to tasteFOR 1 LATTE:8 oz of the masala rooibos chai concentrate8 oz plant-based milk of your choiceUsing the back of a chef’s knife, lightly “crack” the allspice, peppercorns, cloves, and cardamom pods. In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the cracked spices and cinnamon sticks until very fragrant, about 1 minute.In a medium saucepan, bring the water up to a boil. Add the toasted spices to the pot along with the rooibos tea and ginger. Lower the heat and let the tea simmer for 18-20 minutes. Remove the rooibos masala chai from the heat and run it through a fine strainer into a bowl. At this point, stir in the vanilla, sea salt, and maple syrup. Let the masala rooibos chai concentrate cool completely before storing in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week.To make a latte: combine 8oz of the masala rooibos chai concentrate with the plant-based milk and heat using your preferred method–stovetop or microwave. If you have a milk frother, bring the masala rooibos chai concentrate to a boil in a small sauce pan and pour the heated and frothed milk on top.

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We’re big chai-makers in this house, and this recipe looks perfect! Thank you! We also like to add a piece of chaga to our brew (we find it a lot growing on birch trees in the woods around here, lucky us!), it gives it a nice deep colour and taste, and of course oodles of health benefits.
Have a beautiful Sunday :)ReplyCancel

I love that, Eva! Good for boosting the immune system this time of year :)
-LReplyCancel

Kim13/01/2019 - 9:24 pm

Hi there I love chai and as someone who can’t dribk caffeine LOVE this option which will help my bridgehead spending habit I’ve gotten into. To clarify – is it loose rooibos tea you add to the pot? Much thanks!ReplyCancel